AREQUIPA, Peru – Cienfuegos sprinter Yamel Luis Vives won the silver medal in the 100-meter dash, T44 category, with a time of 11.20 seconds, at the 17th edition of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
With this result, Vives provided the first medal for the Cuban delegation at the sporting event, which means that there are still nine more to go to meet the forecast of the Cuban regime authorities.
In other results from the last 24 hours reported by the official pressYosjaniel Hernández (SM7) came in fifth in his qualifying heat in the 200-meter medley event of para-swimming with a time of 2:54.71, which was not enough to sneak into the final of that event.
Likewise, the parashooter Yenigladys Suárez finished in 14th place in the P2-Pneumatic Pistol modality at 10 meters with a cumulative score of 534 points, which was not enough to reach the final.
On the other hand, the Cuban delegation had hopes of winning a medal in parataekwondo with Lidia Montes de Oca, an athlete who also failed to add numbers to the island’s medal tally.
Despite the aspirations of the Cuban regime authorities, the numbers have not been on the island’s side in these Paris 2024 games. Before the Olympic event began at the end of last July, the official discourse also predicted positions in the medal table that never materialized.
The collapse of the Cuban state sports system, one of the pillars of the regime’s propaganda, occurred in Paris 2024, where the Cuban delegation won only 9 medals and two gold titles.
Only the fifth gold medal at the Olympic Games for the star Mijaín López and the gold medal for Erislandy Álvarez in boxing saved the Cuban delegation from leaving Paris without titles, something that would have to go back to Mexico 68, where the Cubans won four silver medals.
Since that meeting, the island’s delegations have always been above both titles.
As for the number of medals, to see such a poor performance by the Cubans one would have to go back to Munich 72, where the Cubans collected 8 medals, although 3 of them were gold.
The Cuban delegation is thus left behind the official forecasts that predicted 5 gold medals.
Before the Games, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel had referred to the forecast as “conservative” and proposed that it be revised because Cuban athletes could “overcome it.”
“I am convinced of the potential of sport in Cuba and that its representatives will continue to bring joy to the people,” said Díaz-Canel in statements that confirm his disconnection from the reality of Cuban sport.
